Notre Dame Football: Game-by-Game Predictions for the Month of November

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — With talk about the controversial ending against Florida State and the chances of a one-loss Notre Dame team in the College Football Playoff swirling, the rest of Notre Dame football’s schedule has almost become an afterthought.

The Irish still have five games remaining, and they face their opponents in a five-week stretch following the recent bye week. It goes without saying, if Notre Dame wants to stake a legitimate claim to the one of the four playoff spots, it will have to win each of its remaining games.

Will the Irish do so?

Here are our game-by-game predictions.

At Navy

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

Keenan Reynolds

Navy’s option attack presents a legitimate set of unnerving challenges for Irish head coach Brian Kelly, and Midshipmen quarterback Keenan Reynolds is very, very good. But with an extra week to prepare for the option, the Irish should take care of business against Navy.

Kelly has seen Navy give the Irish its best before. The Midshipmen grabbed two separate fourth-quarter leads in South Bend last season before falling 38-34. In 2010 in Kelly’s first season leading the Irish, Navy toppled Notre Dame, 35-17.

But Saturday’s matchup with the Midshipmen should look more like Notre Dame’s 50-10 demolition in Ireland in the 2012 season opener. The Irish defense—though young—has seen plenty of the option in recent years, and the offense seems to be rounding into form with the emergence of sophomore running back Tarean Folston.

Prediction: Notre Dame wins

At Arizona State

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Taylor Kelly

The looming showdown with the Sun Devils appears to be Notre Dame’s toughest task in the final month of the regular season. Arizona State, the No. 15 team in this week’s AP poll, is the only remaining ranked Irish opponent after USC fell to Utah.

The 6-1 Sun Devils have downed USC (38-34), Stanford (26-10) and Washington (24-10) in its last three games and must battle No. 18 Utah this weekend before facing the Irish.

Arizona State took Notre Dame to the wire last season before losing 37-34, and the Sun Devils boast a slew of playmakers. But with quarterback Taylor Kelly just now working his way back from injury, it’s a tall task for the Sun Devil offense to be completely clicking against the stout Notre Dame defense.

The Sun Devils certainly have the ability to upset the Irish, but Notre Dame looks too strong to slip up. 

Prediction: Notre Dame wins

Northwestern

Ann Heisenfelt/Associated Press

Pat Fitzgerald

In between tough tilts against Arizona State and USC, Notre Dame hosts Northwestern and Louisville in successive weeks. If the Irish are 8-1 heading into the Northwestern game, there will certainly be trap-game talk throughout the week.

And while the Wildcats claimed a nifty 20-14 win over Wisconsin and a 29-6 drubbing of Penn State earlier in the season, the 3-4 squad doesn’t inspire any upset confidence.

The Wildcats rank 108th in the country, per CFBStats.com, in total offense. Everett Golson and the Irish offense figure to put up points against Northwestern and its middle-of-the-road defense, so opposing offenses need to score to down Notre Dame. Northwestern’s 20.9 points-per-game scoring average—109th in the country, according to CFBStats.com—won’t get it done.

Prediction: Notre Dame wins

Louisville

Garry Jones/Associated Press

DeVante Parker

Louisville is hanging just outside the Top 25 after a somewhat quiet 6-2 start to the season. The Cardinals’ only blemishes are a 23-21 setback to Virginia on the road and a 23-17 loss to Clemson on the road.

Without Teddy Bridgewater at the helm of the Louisville offense, quarterback Will Gardner still has an impressive group of weapons around him to make the Cardinals an intriguing opponent for the Irish defense.

Louisville senior wide receiver DeVante Parker came back from injury and posted nine receptions for 132 yards against NC State two Saturdays ago. Senior running back Michael Dyer, who starred at Auburn in 2010 and 2011, exploded for his best game as a Cardinal with 173 rushing yards on 24 carries against the Wolfpack.

If the Louisville offense is efficient against the Irish, the Cardinals have a chance to play spoiler to Notre Dame. But it’s difficult to see Notre Dame falling on its own turf on Senior Day.

Prediction: Notre Dame wins

At USC

Rick Bowmer/Associated Press

Cody Kessler

If—still a big if—the Irish roll into Los Angeles with a 10-1 record and their sights set on a playoff berth in the days right after Thanksgiving, it will be easy to draw parallels to the 2012 tilt between the Irish and the Trojans.

In that matchup, Notre Dame just needed to dispatch USC to knot up the trip to the national championship game. A late goal-line stand by the Irish sealed the victory, but USC—at 7-4 heading into the game—made sure nothing was easy for Notre Dame.

Regardless of the records and the stakes this time around, again, nothing will be easy. And while the Trojans do have three losses already, this team is still replete with talent and will have the home crowd and the rivalry buzz at play.

But the thin USC roster could deteriorate further as the season winds down. And if Notre Dame’s offense finds the holes in the Trojan defense, expect the Irish to outpace USC.

Prediction: Notre Dame wins

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Mike Monaco is a lead Notre Dame writer for Bleacher Report. Follow @MikeMonaco_ on Twitter.